


cat game

by patriciaselina



Category: Exit Tunes Presents ACTORS (Album)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Cat Game (Neko Atsume), Drabble Collection, Friendship, Games, Gen, Mobile App Game, Slice of Life, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:23:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3934987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patriciaselina/pseuds/patriciaselina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“You...<b>really</b> like using Mike’s name, huh.” Chiguma says, sitting down on the side of the bench not occupied by Kai himself, perfectly aware how he’s stating the obvious right now. “You’ve only used it to name the last <b>five kittens</b> so far.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Well, but that was obvious, since these two are <b>calicos</b>, and these ones have his eyes. They just pop right at me, y’know? Kinda like Mike-kun’s when he blows up at me for bringing him his bento five minutes late and stuff.” Kai says, chuckling to himself.</i>
</p><p>(Basically: in which the ACTORS boys play the Japanese cat game, <a href="http://observer.com/2015/04/neko-atsume-cats-in-the-backyard-thats-a-video-game/">Neko Atsume</a>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. yuyama. narugo.

**Author's Note:**

> As the people who know me IRL know (hi, mom), my cat game app mistook my battery’s constant habit of resetting my system date to 1980 for tampering with the game itself, so I’m stuck here, unable to play that damned addictive game for more than a week. This is my way of dealing with it.
> 
> More to come, hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character list so far, in the order that they’re actually speaking in this part:
> 
> [Seijun Yuyama](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_18.html), [Kaoru Narugo](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_20.html)
> 
> The non-speaking character who gets mentioned a lot is [Kouya Ashihara](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_17.html), from my previous fic _[somebody pinch me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3916834)_.

The first thing Kaoru notices is that Seijun named everyone after Ashihara.

 _Every single one_. From the cat with the white fur to the cat with the black fur. All the calicos and tiger-striped kittens. Even the special-edition kittens, the pirate, the samurai, heck, even the frowning prince cat, which shouldn’t remind anyone of Ashihara _at all_.

Well, maybe it’s supposed to call back to the little crown Ashihara tends to scribble over his signatures in the documents he sometimes signs with the other club presidents. Or maybe it’s because Seijun just seems to be _really dead-set_ on naming every single kitten in this game after his – for lack of a better term – _other half_.

Kaoru thinks that – maybe it’s a good thing that there are three kinds of Japanese writing, because there’s only so many ways that Seijun could write ‘Kouya’ without getting confused.

“What are you doing there, Seijun?” Kaoru asks, by way of greeting. It’s a testament to how used Seijun has become to Kaoru’s voice that he doesn’t even flinch at Kaoru’s sudden presence, unlike, say, certain club presidents who shall remain unnamed, who happen to have bob-cut hair and messy tempers.

“Cat game,” Seijun murmurs, not even looking away from the screen, where a new arrival seems to be halfway stuck in a cake box, its bottom pointed jauntily towards the screen. “Kouya grabbed my phone the other day, and the next thing I knew, this thing was on it.”

Kaoru thinks he should’ve had expected this answer in the first place.

“Hm. Do you like it so far?”

Right now Seijun is double-tapping the screen with practiced fingers and eventually types in a name for his new kitten – the hiragana for “ _Ya_ ”. Kaoru’s about to applaud his friend on, well, finally choosing a name _not_ from derived from his Broadcasting Club partner...but then Seijun casually flips through his cat ‘notebook’ and Kaoru can see that the cat before this one was named with the hiragana for “ _Kou_ ”.

So, there’s that, then.

“I can’t really say I do,” Seijun says in reply, looking at Kaoru with those bright eyes of his that kinda-sorta remind Kaoru of the jam on top of the raspberry cheesecake he had for breakfast this morning.

Out of respect of their mutual friendship, Kaoru decides not to tell Seijun that he thinks Seijun’s a bad liar.

 

 


	2. akizuki. marume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character list so far, in the order that they’re actually speaking in this part:
> 
> [Kai Akizuki](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_06.html), [Chiguma Marume](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_07.html), [Mike Enjouji](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_05.html)
> 
> Non-speaking characters who get mentioned are their teachers [Washiho Uzuki](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_08.html) and [Tsukasa Odawara](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_16.html), as well as Kai's classmate [Itto Takatenjin](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_12.html), and his year-mate [Minori Shido](http://actorsmusic.jp/character/chara_21.html).

“Ooh, this one is _cute_ , Kai!”

“ _Isn’t_ he?” Kai’s _beaming_ as Chiguma looks over his shoulder – for once it’s _Kai_ who has been holding onto the phone in his hands for the past few minutes, and Chiguma’s the one who’s cheering him on. “He ate _everything_ and now he’s lying on the ground, rubbing his poor stomach. Un, I think I’ll name him ‘ _Mike-kun_ ’.”

Fortunately for Kai (and Chiguma’s teetering peace of mind), Mike isn’t around to once more protest at Kai’s egregrious usage of his much-hated name, but this is mostly because Washiho- _sensei_ and Tsukasa- _sensei_ had hauled him off with identical smiles on their faces and said that they were gonna help him conquer his fears, whatever the hell that meant.

“You... _really_ like using Mike’s name, huh.” Chiguma says, sitting down on the side of the bench not occupied by Kai himself, perfectly aware how he’s stating the obvious right now. “You’ve only used it to name the last _five kittens_ so far.”

“Well, but that was obvious, since these two are _calicos_ , and these ones have his eyes. They just pop right at me, y’know? Kinda like Mike-kun’s when he blows up at me for bringing him his _bento_ five minutes late and stuff.” Kai says, chuckling to himself. “But it’s not _all_ him – I mean, I _could_ do that, but some of the kittens remind me of different people – the one who keeps staring at the fishbowl is Itto-kun, and the one who keeps sinking into the fluffy cushion that kinda reminds me of Minori-kun’s hair...is Minori-kun, I guess?”

“Shido-kun’s hair _does_ fluff out a lot, yeah.” Not that Chiguma has really seen him IRL a lot, though. But yeah, from what he’s seen on the first-year guy when they cross paths in the hallway he _does_ have fluffy hair, and if only Chiguma hadn’t already experienced firsthand just how amazing he is at online game trash-talking, he would’ve thought Minori Shido’s personality to be as fluffy and light as his hair is.

“And look, these ones have patches over just one of their eyes! I named them _all_ after _you_ , Chiguman- _senpai_.”

“You – you _did_!?” Chiguma blurts out so sweetly, so _fondly_ , that he thinks that if they were in a visual novel there would be sparkly flowers in the background behind him. Well, it’d probably prettify the scene, because Tensho Academy’s grounds at noon isn’t exactly the most picturesque spot. “That’s so _sweet_ , Kai, thanks!”

“Ehehe, it’s nothing! They tend to like the beanbags, by the way – kind of like how you are when you and Mike-kun come to visit and there’s a rare event going on in your latest game.”

“...come to think of it,” Chiguma mutters to himself, whipping out his own smartphone as if it was a part of him, “Thanks for reminding me. There _is_ a special event happening in the game I’m playing right now...”

“Hm, what game are you playing right now? The girls all look cute.”

“ – LLSIF? Err, I mean, _Love Live_ ,” Chiguma murmurs. Kai nods – yup, he’s definitely heard that from someone before. Maybe Minori-kun? Itto-kun doesn’t really seem to be the type to like such...err, _labor-intensive_ mobile app games. (He’d rather read one of Ryuunosuke- _senpai_ ’s books, probably.) “I just really _really_ wanna get the super-rare before my time runs out.”

“I think you’ll get it _for sure_ , Chiguman- _senpai_. You’ve been working on that song for the past...few days now, right?” Chiguma nods, and Kai’s smile grows brighter. “Also, you have _amazing_ reflexes. It goes to follow that you’ll be great at rhythm games!”

“Thanks, Kai. Glad to hear that.” Chiguma says, shooting his friend a smile that inadvertently stops a bunch of passing schoolgirls’ hearts.

Not that Kai notices, though, with how brightly he’s smiling back in return. It’s really a good thing they’re _outside_ while they’re doing this little exchange of smiles, because if they ever did this _indoors_ , in a _closed space_ , why, a good chunk of the Tensho Academy population just might be completely and utterly annihilated by their combined charm.

Again, not that either of them actually do _care_ about stuff like that, though. Not when there are more important things for them to think about, like –

“Aww, yeah! I got the _super-rare_!” Chiguma blurts out some twenty-or-so minutes in, turns around to face Kai, and – “Wait, Kai, why does your face look so _green_?”

“Mike-kun’s been stuck in this box for _the last half hour_ , Chiguman- _senpai_!!” Kai wails, clutching at his own phone with genuine distress, like those Victorian ladies with their handkerchiefs. “Is he really gonna be okay if I leave him like that!? ”

“Kai, calm down, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be okay –”

“But what if he doesn’t? _Mike-kun might die_ , Chiguman- _senpai_. He might _die_ here, ‘cuz I didn’t get him cake and he had to settle with rummaging around in the cake box and, and just got _stuck_ there, and I never even got to fully appreciate how _cute_ he looks like yet!”

“What,” someone says, from behind them, their voice reminding Chiguma of the _really bad storm_ that Ashihara from the Broadcasting Club said _might_ wreak havoc on Tensho, “Did you just say about me?”

“Oh, hey there, Mike-kun! It’s a lovely day today, isn’t it _ahhhh Mike-kun please don’t sit on meeeeeeeee—_ ”

Chiguma turns back to his game (and his _beloved_ super-rare) and decides to let his friends handle matters by themselves.

Kai’s a big boy, anyway. He knew the risk when he started wailing about his ‘cute little kitten Mike-kun’. He’s been around Mike’s hatred for his ‘cute’ given name and general hatred for being called ‘cute’ in general for just about forever. Kai _must’ve_ seen this happening.

...knowing who Mike _is_ , though, this’ll probably end up with _Mike_ being the one addicted to the cat game instead. For all of Mike’s pent-up rage, he _does_ have that unhealthy obsession with cute things...

(Maybe that's why he spends so much time with Kai, then? Hm.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What were the teachers having Mike do, by the way? They were having him do a staring contest with a bunch of insects. He hates insects, okay. Probably would beg for mercy when forced to be around them.


End file.
